The Iberian Pig – Modern Spanish tapas take the spotlight in Decatur

August 30, 2017

Recently, Decatur has been our favorite dine-out area place in Atlanta. Though it takes a bit of driving to get there from Midtown, we definitely think places like this make it worthwhile. Iberian Pig is a small eatery located in the heart of Decatur Square serving pork-eccentric tapas and entrees. The indulging Spanish flavors accompanied with the lively, modern American setting make this a great weekend brunch spot for groups of friends. For our couple readers, this place is also on our list for one of the best traditional date-night restaurants in Atlanta.

One glance over the menu and you can immediately tell that the focus is on traditional Spanish cured meats and cheese. They have great selection of both types that will ensure customers getting the best flavor combination tapas. And how could tapas be completed without wide selections of wine? Luckily for us, Iberian Pig features an ambitious beverage menu featuring imports from Spain, Chile and Argentina. Our favorite over the year has stayed with their House-made Red Sangria that compliment almost everything we choose to order.

B.W.D The slightly salty and thick-cut bacon goes extremely well with the natural sweetness of Medjool date. We found the Manchego cheese, walnuts and Romesco sauce base to be an amazing highlight of this dish. A portion comes with five bite-size pieces, nicely held together by a tooth-pick. We always gravitated towards this one for appetizer. Plus it pairs amazing with some bubbly white wine.

Pork cheek tacos At $9 for four tacos, this is a steal. And the flavors combination really helps this dish won over the crown. The meat is cooked to perfect tenderness and full of flavor. Usually we found the deep fried tortilla taco to be a bit too heavy for our liking but here, the juiciness of the pork really balances out the crispy taco shells. It’s topped with some flavorful corn and cilantro which further enhance the flavor depth of this dish. We finished all 4 of them within five minutes and seriously considered helping ourselves to a second serving.

Huevo Con Trufa This dish is slightly on a heavier side and can be considered as a main course. It combines extremely juicy slow-braised pork cheeks with generous serving of black truffle paté that managed to melt into our taste buds seamlessly with each spoonful. The poached egg on top not only look great but the runny yolk upon broken coat the top surface with a decadent layer of creaminess. This is best enjoyed by dipping the rustic toasted bread inside the yolk and have a spoonful of the pork cheek and truffle concoction right after.

Oyster Pinxto BLT Among all the insanely-flavorful dishes on the menu, we found this item to be a bit underwhelming in comparison. This is mostly due to the mediocre choice of bread, even after toasted failed to complement the overall composition. Apart from that, the oyster is small but juicy, nicely fried to golden and pair nicely with the cream sauce on top. The microgreen also adds nice touch of colors as well as some moist to this otherwise dry dish.

“Foiench” Toast (aka: Foie gras French toast )Being a big fan of foie gras, we were seriously so excited to try this out even before the main dishes ( who else have dessert before dinner lol). And our excitement just got tenfold when we discover this is in fact a savory dessert – something we always find to be exotic and interesting. Truth be told, all of the component of this dish – from the high quality pan-seared Hudson Valley foie gras, the extremely fragrant lavender mascarpone stuffed brioche cheese to blackberry gastrique and raspberry compound butter – are being executed really well. However, the flavor combination somehow fails to impress us. The brioche and maple syrup permeated the dish with an overwhelming sweetness, obliterating completely the savory charms from the foie-gras, which is supposed to be the star of this dish.

Ice Cream Sandwich This would have been a pretty decent dessert if not for the sweet-over-the-top ice cream. Again, the ice cream is supposed to be the main star of this dish and we were majorly drawn to the fact that it’s made from goat cheese – which always have a very distinctive taste to it. The Spanish tortas taste like crispy rice crackers to us and it pairs quite well with the soft ice cream. The macerated raspberry makes for a good decoration point and adds some fruity touch to the flavor palate.

Service is consistently top notched. All of the waiters we have met so far are friendly, enthusiastic with true spirit of hospitality that will makes your dining experience that much more enjoyable. We also love to pay Iberian Pig a visit around 5pm on weekend and just sit outside, breathing in the vibrant air and watching live music. We swear things couldn’t get any better than that.